


Christmas Morning

by kuro



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Presents, Romance, Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 14:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13125252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro/pseuds/kuro
Summary: Tony slowly opened his eyes and blinked into the soft morning light. It was still early and quiet, but there was a strange sense of expectation in the air.Oh, right, he remembered; Christmas morning.





	Christmas Morning

Tony slowly opened his eyes and blinked into the soft morning light. It was still early and quiet, but there was a strange sense of expectation in the air.

Oh, right, he remembered; Christmas morning.

He turned around and pulled the pillow over his head. The bed was soft and perfectly inviting in its warmth, making it all too easy to doze off again.

Christmas was officially work-free, and he wasn’t even on the emergency roster this year, so there was really absolutely no reason to separate from his fluffy comforter just yet. In fact, fusing with it seemed like the idea to go with.

He mentally congratulated himself. Stroke of genius, that one. Get your sleep while no megalomaniac super-villains threaten to destroy the earth. Or business rivals try to take over your company. Or some obsessed stalker tries to get to him. Or-

_Whatever_. He snuggled deeper into his comforter, letting go of his thoughts in favor of sleep. 

His all too rare and precious drowsing was eventually interrupted by someone intruding in his bedroom, not bothering to knock.

“Tony,” Steve’s voice came from the entrance, sounding far too awake. “It’s Christmas.”

“I know,” Tony mumbled into his pillow.

“The youngsters are desperately waiting to open the presents,” Steve said, stubbornly ignoring the vibe of ‘please leave’ that Tony was giving him.

“What’s keeping them from doing that, then?” Tony mumbled, twisting his pillow just so and… ah, this was it. Perfection.

“You, apparently,” Steve replied. “I think they have something they really want to give you, and you’re ruining the surprise.”

Tony made the mistake and stiffened lightly, and Steve was on to it like a shark smelling blood, poking Tony in the shoulder.

“Come on,” Steve cajoled him. “For them.”

Tony turned his head so he could freely glare up at Steve’s far too chipper face.

Steve wasn’t cowed at all, it seemed. Instead, he held out a red and gold dressing gown to Tony.

Tony looked at the item suspiciously. That definitely wasn’t one of his.

“Do I even want to know where you got this?” he asked.

“Probably not,” Steve replied, the faintest of smiles gracing his lips. “But I’m fairly sure it’s something you’d actually wear.”

There was really no point in trying to go back to sleep now, so Tony grabbed the dressing gown and slithered out of his wonderfully warm bed and into the gown. He checked his reflection in the large mirror on the wall, and yes, Steve was right. The dressing gown looked good on him. Not quite as as good as an actual armor, but now was probably not the time for _that_.

He turned away from the mirror and went over to the window, pulling the curtains back and letting the room be fully flooded by bright sunlight. The world outside was covered in a thick white coat, as brilliant in its sugary perfection as one could possibly hope for on a Christmas morning.

“At least the weather is spoiling us this year,” he remarked.

“Right?” Steve asked, sliding next to Tony and handing him a large cup of hot coffee. “Just the right amount of snow. It feels like we accidentally landed in a Christmas commercial. We haven’t even had any emergencies yet.”

Tony stared at the cup that Steve had handed him. It had a vintage design of Iron Man on the front, complete with a cute little Santa hat. Where did Steve _find_ these things? It was definitely new, he’d never seen it before.

He took a sip of the coffee, and it was strong and smooth just like he preferred it. It was, however, a different blend than the one he usually used.

“Christmas blend,” Steve said with a smile, still looking out of the window.

“It’s good,” Tony said after a moment of silence, the surprise in his voice evident even to himself.

“That’s what it’s supposed to be,” Steve hummed. “Come on, it’s time to go and let the kids have their fun.”

Tony blinked into the the bright morning light one last time, wondering for one moment in what parallel universe he’d woken up today, and then followed Steve out of the bedroom door, towards the living room.

* * *

The living room had been decorated lavishly for many days already, with a huge Christmas tree standing at its center. Now, everything was fully lit up, lights flashing everywhere, and the room was filled with Avengers.

All kinds of holiday wishes were cheerfully shouted at each other, and food and drinks were passed around. There was coffee and hot chocolate and tea, but Tony was pretty sure that whatever Thor had in his mug, it wasn’t any of that. Someone shoved a plate of cookies under his nose, and he carefully picked one out. The cookies were usually excellent, but careless choices might bring about unwanted adventures. He took a speculoos (you couldn’t go wrong with that one) and nibbled on it between sips of his coffee.

As expected with so many Avengers in one room, it was mayhem. Several young Avengers were standing in front of the hi-fi equipment, squabbling over the music that was being played. Their opinions apparently widely varied, with no consensus in sight. Tony rolled his eyes as he passed them by and silently gave J.A.R.V.I.S. a sign that he should play Tony’s own Christmas playlist, filled with songs that were festive, but not too cheesy. He smirked at the startled youngsters over the brim of his cup. As long as they weren’t able to hack him, they hadn’t yet earned the right to choose.

Jan and Natasha were in one corner, snickering about something, which meant that nothing good could would come from there. Rhodey and and Carol were standing by the tree, gazing into each others eyes adoringly as they sipped on their hot chocolate. It was honestly both adorable and nauseating how sweet the two were ever since they had gotten together. Tony couldn’t help the light stab of jealousy seeing them like this.

Tony chanced another glance over to Thor. Apparently, he’d now managed to rope Clint into a drinking contest, which was such a terrible decision Tony wanted no part in it. Next to Thor, Peter was dangling off the Hulk, using him as his personal playground.

Peter lit up when he caught sight of Tony, nimbly climbing the Hulk’s bicep and launching himself across the room, ending up directly in front of Tony’s feet.

“Merry Christmas, Iron Man!” Peter cheerfully declared. “Welcome to the Avengers holiday bash!”

“I’m pretty sure this is my house and my party, but thank you, Peter,” Tony replied with a huff, but he couldn’t suppress his smile. “Is there some cake for me yet?”

“Sure!” Peter chirped, already reaching over to get him some. “But then it’s presents time!”

Tony sighed. Leave it to the kids to be absolutely thrilled by the idea of ripping colorful wrapping from silly trinkets. (Not that _his_ presents were silly trinkets, mind you. His gift-giving skills were finely honed.)

He took the plate that Peter handed him and poked at the plate while he watched Peter gather everyone around the presents under the Christmas tree.

“So, now that we’re finally complete,” Peter declared loudly, “it’s PRESENT TIME!”

A few of the younger Avengers enthusiastically whooped. As per tradition, someone dove in and picked up a random item, looking at the name tag and calling the name written on it. The first one this year was Jan, who got a very lovely new lipstick from two of the girls. After unpacking and and enthusiastic thank you, Jan then took the next present and gave it to its recipient. One by one, the presents littered around the tree were picked off like that.

Most names had been called more than once already when Tony’s name was finally called for the first time. He stepped forward to receive a small unadorned black box. It was light, and didn’t look like much.

“It’s from all of us,” Peter said helpfully, grinning.

“Thank you,” Tony replied, a little dubiously. With hesitance, he reached out for the lid and opened the box.

Inside where small cards, approximately the size of a business card, but each of them in a different color and with a different design.

Tony picked a gold-embossed card out of it and read it.

_Voucher for one weekend in Asgard, no expenses spared. - Thor_

He put it back and took out another one, this one steel grey.

_Voucher for a trip to the moon and back (that’s what we have these suits for, baby). - Rhodey_

Next, he picked a bright yellow one.

_Voucher for three karaoke battles with the team of your choosing at the Nocturnal Bar, food & drinks included. - ♥, Jan _

He picked out one card after the other, and each of them contained some kind of activity chosen by the Avenger listed on the bottom of the card. The activities themselves ranged from museum visits over handicraft activities to overnight trips.

Speechless, Tony simply shuffled through the cards, reading all the different ideas they had gathered. No two ideas were the same.

“Am I supposed to do all of them in one year?” he eventually asked the room at large. “I’ll be very busy, then.”

“Looks like you’ll have to make time,” Carol teased.

“You don’t have to, like, do all of them,” Peter said nervously. “We just thought you’d, uh, appreciate the choice?”

Tony smiled at him. “All the ideas are great. I love them. Thank you, everyone.”

His gratitude was answered by loud whoops and applause.

“Now,” Tony said, clearing his throat, “on to the next present.

* * *

It took forever until the last present had finally been unpacked, and by that time, everyone was stuffed to the brim with cake, cookies and all the other delicious foods that had been passed around. Sated and drowsy, the groups eventually split up, some people absorbed in their Christmas presents, others naturally falling into conversation with their friends. 

Tony watched them all for a moment before he quietly withdrew and returned to his bedroom. He carefully put the box with the vouchers on his bedside table and stripped out of the dressing gown. Sighing, he finally relaxed and went into the bathroom to take a long, hot shower that was really overdue. All of the Avengers had seen him in much worse shape other than a little sleep-rumpled, but it still felt like a relief to stand under the comfortable pressure of the falling water at last. He always felt a little more human after that.

When Tony finally managed to turn the shower off and step out, he was in no hurry to get dressed and return to the living room. Scrubbing his hair, he wandered back into his bedroom and found Steve waiting there for him, seated in the large armchair by the window.

“Hey,” he said, throwing the wet towel on the bed. “Enjoying the view?”

“I’ve seen worse,” Steve replied serenely.

Tony snorted and wandered over to his walk-in wardrobe.

“Is there anything you wanted?” he asked, rifling through his pullovers after he had slipped on some underwear. It was Christmas, but he was really feeling purple today. Well, it wasn’t like they had a theme. He pulled out one of his comfortable cashmere pullovers in plum.

When Steve didn’t answer his question after a few moments, he stuck his head out of the door, looking at Steve. Steve seemed strangely… contemplative.

“I did notice that there was no card from you,” Tony said, nodding towards the box on his bedside table. “Not that I’m reading anything into that, mind you. Just an observation.”

Steve sighed. “I thought about it, you know. But it seemed stupid to suggest one of our usual activities. And other than that…”

“What would you do?” Tony asked.

Steve looked at him. “Hm?”

“What would you do?” Tony repeated. “If you could choose anything. Wish for something.”

Steve clenched his jaw and stared out of the window for a few moments. The sun was still out, reflecting brightly in the snow.

“Time,” Steve eventually answered. “Sure, a weekend in Copenhagen or Singapore is great, and jumping from a plane is fun, and so is going dancing. But when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter. What matters is time.”

_Something we all have preciously little of_ , Tony thought to himself.

“Once, I thought that I had no regrets,” Steve continued on. “But then I came back, and only now I realize just what I really missed. I’m afraid that I’ll do the same thing all over again.”

“I’m afraid the Time-Turner hasn’t been invented yet,” Tony said, smiling when Steve raised an eyebrow at him. “I would refer you to Reed Richards, but honestly, I _really_ don’t recommend that.”

“You scientists,” Steve sighed. “Always trying to fix everything with technology. I like that color, by the way. It looks good on you.”

Tony looked down at his chest, now covered in the plum cashmere pullover.

“Oh. Thanks.”

He retreated into his closet once more and picked out a pair of black slacks, quickly pulling them on.

“I do approve of that Iron Man dressing gown you gave me, though,” Tony said once he had returned to the bedroom. “Very classy, if I may say so myself.”

Steve chuckled. “Of course you would.”

“Says the Star-Spangled Banner,” Tony shot back, raising an eyebrow. “There is literally nothing classy about that, no matter how you twist or turn it.”

Steve only shrugged at that. Honestly, Tony knew he was smart enough to realize that the costume did have a certain level of utter ridiculousness, although he assumed that came with the entire being Captain America thing. There was a certain amount of ridiculousness necessary to pull being Captain America off. No one would really take him seriously if he was just like anybody else.

“So, what are you planning to do with your time?” Tony asked. When Steve looked uncomprehending, he added, “You are here, I am here, we have time. So, what is it?”

“Shouldn’t it be you making that decision?” Steve replied after a moment of silence. “After all, it was me that didn’t give you a gift.”

“Details,” Tony hummed. “But if you insist, I could go for a walk. To go and enjoy the Christmas commercial.”

He tilted his head at Steve and got a smile in return.

“Let me get my coat,” Steve said, and retreated from the room.

* * *

They wandered along the meandering paths of the park silently for a while. The snow was sparkling in the cold air, the sun not yet strong enough to melt it. A few children were playing in the snow, building snowmen and having snowball fights, but the rest of the world seemed oddly muted, the usual noise of the city reduced to a far-away humming.

At a street vendor’s stall, Tony had bought hot cocoa for both of them – less for the cocoa and more for the additional warmth – and so they walked slowly, carefully sipping at their beverages.

“It’s surprisingly cold,” Tony observed, watching his breath turn into little clouds, drifting away. “I thought it would be warmer, in the sunshine.”

“It’s easy to underestimate how cold it really gets here in the winter,” Steve replied. He looked at Tony’s stylish black coat with a considering gaze. “Are you warm enough?”

“Yes, mother,” Tony chuckled. “I’m quite warm. Don’t worry your pretty head.”

He paused for a moment.

“Would it be rude to ask you the same question?”

Steve looked confused for a moment, before his expression became one of realization. The ice.

“I don’t actually associate the two things with each other,” he explained, a little hesitantly. “It’s really not the same thing. And to answer the question, no, the cold doesn’t bother me.”

“Does it now?” Tony asked, lips twisting into a wry smile. “So that probably means you don’t want to hold my hand?”

Steve’s eyes turned wide and round, and he nearly tripped over absolutely nothing.

“I-” he turned a flaming red, “uh, yes – I mean no! I mean- ah, fuck-”

Tony laughed quietly and held out his hand, waiting for Steve to take it. After a moment of hesitance, Steve reached out and enveloped Tony’s hand with his own. Large and warm, just like one would expect it to be. Surprisingly gentle.

Tony considered their clasped hands for a moment, and then used the chance to tug Steve down to his level, leaning in to whisper into his ear.

“Aren’t you glad I made time for you?”

“You’re a little shit,” Steve said, but there was no heat behind his words. “See if I ever bring you coffee again.”

“Don’t worry,” Tony chuckled, “I’m sure I can convince you somehow.”

“You aren’t half as convincing as you fancy yourself to be, Mr. Stark,” Steve countered, using his bigger body to gently shove Tony.

“Hey,” Tony complained. “You oaf. Do you even know who you’re talking to?”

“Yes,” Steve said, sending Tony a brilliant smile. “I think I have an idea.”


End file.
